In a Rainstorm
by Housefanatic
Summary: On a stormy rainy night, Meredith realizes something she never knew. Oneshot. i suck at summarys


Disclaimer: I do not own anyone or anything from Grey's Anatomy! Meredith is 5 years old in this story by the way.

Chapter 1

Meredith stared outside her window in her tiny, blue room. It was raining outside. Rain, it always seemed to be raining recently. It was raining when her father, Thatcher, had left. It was raining when her mother left for work every morning the last couple of days. It was raining when she had started school, only to have her mother be an hour late picking her up. And it was raining when Meredith realized that maybe her mother didn't care about her at all. Her father had obviously not cared about her; he left in the middle of the night without a note or anything. Her mother never cared that much about Meredith. She was always at work or if she was home she just ignored Meredith completely. Suddenly the calm rain turned into a storm with loud thunder and lightning. The wind sounded like someone screaming and the thunder sounded like someone yelling, just as her parents used to do, yell and scream.

The tears began to well up in Meredith's eyes and, trembling, she crawled into bed and cried. Just then the lightning struck and she screamed and crawled under her bed with her stuffed rabbit that her father had given her when she was born. Meredith put her hands over her ears, clutching on the rabbit, sobbing as she begged for the pain to stop. The fear of the storm, the sadness that her father was never coming back, and the disappointment that her mother was probably not coming home for another 5 hours. So Meredith lay under her bed, crying.

At exactly 10:46, Ellis Grey stepped in the door. She hung up her coat, and was greeted by the housekeeper, who didn't speak English very well.

"Hello Mrs. Grey how was…uh…work?"

"Fine, 2 surgeries in one day." Ellis replied snappily. She then noticed that Meredith wasn't at the door to greet her like usual. She turned to the housekeeper. "Where is Meredith, sleeping?" The housekeeper's eyes widened.

"I think so, I sent her to bed at 8:00 and she has not attempted to leave her room."

Ellis nodded and decided to see if Meredith was asleep or not. As she walked down the hallway she noticed Meredith's door was closed. Ellis opened it and looked at Meredith's bed. She wasn't there. Just then the lightning struck again and Ellis heard a small whimper come from under the bed. The panic that had risen in Ellis' chest went away as she walked into Meredith's room, and bent down to look under the bed. There was Meredith, her hands clutching her ears and that small little grey bunny with one eye missing her father had given her at the hospital. Meredith's blondish brown hair was clinging to her face with the tears that shone when the lightning flashed.

"Meredith?" Ellis said sternly, "Get up, its just lightning and thunder, get over it"

Meredith heard her mother, she just decided not to acknowledge her presence. Instead the sound of her mother's voice made her cry harder. Her mom didn't care about her, she just wanted her to go to sleep so then she wouldn't have to deal with Meredith.

Ellis became frustrated and rose her voice. "Meredith, GET OUT FROM UNDER THE BED NOW!"

Meredith flinched at her mother's tone, it reminded her of the tone her mom had used when fighting with her dad. Then her father's image popped into her head and she cried even harder. Now Ellis became concerned. As the lightning flashed again, she noticed something shine in the corner. She stood up and walked over to it, her daughter's sobs becoming harder and harder. Ellis picked up the shiny object. It was a broken picture frame. The photo inside was of Thatcher and Meredith on Meredith's 2nd birthday. Then Ellis realized what her daughter was really crying about. A feeling of guilt shot through her. It was her fault Thatch had left, Meredith didn't know that, but it was. Ellis walked back across the carpet and kneeled down beside the bed. She spoke in a tone Meredith had never heard before. It sounded, sweet.

"Your not crying because of the storm, are you?" She watched as her daughter shook her head no. Ellis sighed. Poor kid. At the age of 5 she had no real parent. She, Ellis, was always at work, and Thatch had left. Ellis then did something she had never done since Meredith had turned 3. She took Meredith's hand and gently pulled her from under the bed, and held her.

Meredith looked up at her mother. She wasn't used to this kind of affection. Meredith continued to sob, clutching on to the last memory of her father she had. Ellis continued to stroke her hair, rub her back and soothe her. The lightning continued to flash, the thunder continued to boom, but in Meredith's ears it was all a gently buzz in the background. And so they sat like this, Meredith in Ellis' arms, being comforted, for a long time. Finally, when Meredith stopped crying, she looked up at her mom and smiled. Ellis looked down and smiled back. It was the first time Meredith had looked truly happy since her father left. Meredith stayed in her moms lap in her mother's embrace, and eventually fell asleep. Ellis stayed with her, in her lap, the whole night, and watched as her daughter slept. Tomorrow, she thought, was Saturday, and she would take the day off, and stay with her daughter. 

The next week, on Friday night, it rained again. Meredith, yet again, stared out the window. But this time she didn't feel sad, or lonely, or afraid. Now, when she looked at the rain, she had no bad memories. The only thing she could think of when she looked at rain was it was during a rainstorm she had realized, the moment she had stopped crying last Friday night, that her mother, Ellis Grey, cared about her.


End file.
